Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones documentary, 'Shine a Light,' opens Berlin film festival

BERLIN " Martin Scorsese teamed up with the Rolling Stones to produce an intimate concert film, "Shine a Light," which opened the annual Berlin film festival Thursday.

"The nature of the music is something that has inspired me constantly throughout the years," said Scorsese, who captured the veteran rockers at New York's Beacon Theatre in 2006.

Scorsese said he had long discussed possible projects with Mick Jagger.

"Whenever I saw the show I'd get excited " I want to get a camera up there," the 65-year-old director said at a news conference. "We tried to get as close as possible to the energy of a live concert."

Jagger said he had proposed filming a big show on the beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but Scorsese "said he would like to do something much more intimate, so that's how we got to the Beacon Theatre."

The resulting movie "gives you a really intimate look about what's actually going on in the relationships on the stage, which I've never really seen in a concert movie before," he said.

Keith Richards praised the unobtrusive approach of Scorsese and his crew.

"We didn't even see them, we didn't even know they were there, and that was the important thing to me," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, we played three nights at the Beacon and Martin happened to capture it on film " it's a beautiful way to do it."

Scorsese's movies focusing on music stars also include 1978's "The Last Waltz," in which he captured the farewell performance of The Band, and the 2005 documentary "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan."

He already has another in the pipeline: a portrait of the late George Harrison.

"It's going to be a straight documentary on his life," Scorsese said. "I'm just beginning to look at lots of ... footage over the years."

Twenty-one movies are competing for the main Golden Bear award at this year's Berlinale, the first of the year's major European film festivals. The festival runs through Feb. 17.

"Shine a Light" is showing out of competition.